Marijuana Industry to Create 200,000 Jobs in 2015, Generate $21 Billion By 2020

The global cannabis industry has seen its best year yet, check this interesting article on marijuana.com:

Every day, legal marijuana businesses continue to hire and employ more and more job-seekers who continue to target America's fastest growing industry. And as more states continue to join the legalization bandwagon (Alaska, Oregon, and Washington D.C.), more jobs and revenue will clearly continue to become available. A recent Press Release from CannaInsider estimates that as soon as next year, the legal marijuana industry will create 200,000 new jobs in 2015. Living in Colorado the last 18 months, it's been easy to see first-hand a clear influx of college graduates and cannabis refugees flocking to the state to enter the green rush. Along with the clearcut medical benefits of marijuana and tax dollars the plant generates, it's power as an employer has become vast and undeniable. While the plant saves lives as medicine, it also changes (and in some cases, saves) lives of those looking for a much-needed job in a new, evolving field. The job creation estimate doesn't include which states will be creating those jobs, but one would assume most will be created in states with legal weed like Colorado, Washington, and Oregon. Colorado's industry created at least 10,000 jobs this year, so the estimate clearly projects expansive growth. Matt Karnes, Founder and Managing Partner of GreenWave Advisors states that by 2020, the industry will easily reach eleven digits. "By 2020, assuming the most likely progression of state by state legalization, we expect the combined (medical and adult use) retail marijuana market to reach $21 Billion. Jobs are just the beginning, a cultural shift towards the cannabis plant is taking place." [CannaInsider] This estimation actually falls far lower than another recent estimate that believes the industry could be worth more like $35 billion by 2020. Given the uncertainty surrounding the breadth of Washington, Oregon, and Alaska's impending markets–along with upcoming legalization efforts in states like Arizona, California, and Nevada–this financial number is nearly impossible to pinpoint. In Colorado, from January to October 2014, the state sold just shy of $250 million of retail cannabis plus over $325 million of medical sales. But without clearcut analytics and statistic-based projections, consider these estimations very loose and subject to unknown legislation outcomes. California's cannabis alone has been deemed to be worth a cool $31 billion by some analysts. While it may be impossible to accurately predict the financial size and employee growth within this industry, it's easy to see that the green job market and the green stock market are both on the rise.

via: marijuana.com